Hierarchy Rising
by Be20 Driver
Summary: The Systems Alliance has fallen. Their reckless activation of mass relays has caught the attention of the Turian Hierarchy who sent in their pacification fleets which soundly defeated humanity. How will these turn of events be seen in the future?


Hierarchy Rising

By: Be20 Driver

Prologue

History is written by the victors, or so I am told so this is written so that more of the truth will survive. To those who still resist the Hierarchy and refer to them as 'occupiers' they see the Turians as an invading force, an enemy that descended upon us without warning and without mercy. To those who have accepted that this is the way thing are for the time being, the Turians are more of an agent of change than a force of good or ill.

Perhaps it will be good for me to start from the beginning and no better place to start would be where the war began, a small colony whose name is now immortalized forever among names such as Bunker Hill, Iwo Jima, Manzikert, Tours and Stalingrad. That name is Shanxi. It is the place where humanity knew for certain that they were not alone in the galaxy and it is the place where we learned that our sovereignty was not a birthright but something that must be earned. For whatever reason, the fates determined that we have not earned such right.

When I arrived to take command of the garrison back in '54 the colony was not unlike dozens of others that the Alliance had established over the past decade. I couldn't help but be drawn back to my history lessons when I was just a boy on how the European powers rushed to build settlements in the 'New World' and wondered if the end would be the same. For several years I had slipped into a regular routine, nothing more exciting than soldiers getting into tussles with the locals after one pint too many at the local watering hole or some other sundry complaint.

This all changed in the summer of '57 when we received a panicked call from a stricken ship in orbit after being attacked from a relay survey mission. The only thing we got from them was unknown profiles, powerful weapons and no contact. We responded in kind and the colony defense fleet was sent out where they wiped out the enemy force. Our victory was short lived as the enemy sent in an even larger force that obliterated the fleet and soon were bombing us from orbit before they sent in their drop ships.

It was at this time that we saw the face of our enemy, or at least their armor as I did not see the face of our enemy the entire time that we were in combat. My men fought brave and hard, but we were slowly forced to give up ground and I was faced with the reality that my men were in no position to fight a conventional war. So I took an old page from a man named Ho Chi Minh, and we began an operation of hit and run raids, never committing to prolonged firefights but just hit hard and then retreat into the wilderness.

This stratagem worked so long as we had supplies, but as our supplies dwindled, we were forced to send teams into the cities to forage for provisions. This is where we truly felt the resolve of our enemy, and it was then that I learned that there was no such thing as a good choice but merely a bad choice and a worse choice. When my men entered the city, our enemy would use debris from high orbit and drop it on top my fire teams which took out entire city blocks at a time. Our enemy was not deliberately targeting civilians, they pretty much seemed to leave them alone unless we were there. Sometimes it led me to believe that some of the locals were informing the enemy of our position, something I have never been able to prove and given that there would be no way to communicate at this point, it was highly unlikely but still the feeling remains.

That brings me to my hard decision. I could continue this war, I could continue to sacrifice my people and the lives of the citizens of the colony or I could surrender the garrison and hope that history would vindicate me. I had a wife, three sons and two daughters and knew that were they here and I was somewhere else, there was only one choice I would hope the general would make. So I entered the city in an empty supply truck with a private and my staff officer in the back carrying the white flag, hoping the enemy would understand.

I will remember that day for the rest of my life, a day when I actually saw the enemy and realized the gravity of my decision. Our truck pulled up slowly to an enemy roadblock, I slowly got out of the cab with my staff officer. As we approached the roadblock, the enemy said something that I did not understand and they raised their weapons at us. My staff officer followed my lead as we got a little closer with our arms raised up to show that we were not a threat. It took a little work in playing a game of charades and using salutes to show who I was and what my intentions were but eventually we were let through and escorted to the enemy's base of operations.

Upon arrival, I could see lines of soldiers at parade rest, and it was the first time I saw them without their helmets and was surprised at their bird-like features. I guess that was typical arrogance on my part, as I expected either something that looked like us or the Roswell Grays. They were taller than us, looked stronger than us and their skin looked metallic-a perfect soldier in my opinion. Ever since we evolved from or primate cousins, humanity had this uncanny ability to think we were the best and none were our equals. It seemed that now the uncaring headmaster that was the universe was giving us a lesson in humility.

While still in thought, I was approached by a group of these aliens who I could tell how the others reacted that he was of importance. When he stood before me, at least a foot taller than myself I managed to snap off a salute. There was something about the male in front of me, I'm not sure if man would be appropriate as it seems to always be a word associated with a human male. Yet call him as you like, he seemed to command obedience, there was an aura of authority which was something that I found very rare in the upper echelons of our own military structure.

Eventually I was able to give him a crisp military salute, feeling like some FNG standing in front of his CO for the first time. In such a situation I almost did something incredibly stupid that could have got me killed. I pulled out my sidearm from my holster, and before I knew it, the soldiers flanking him had weapons trained on us. Realizing my misstep I carefully re-orientated the weapon so that the handle was pointed towards him. I still remember my words like it were yesterday, "sir, my name is General Luke T. Williams. Please take this as a token of my surrender."

The male accepted the weapon and I was led away towards what they were using as a command headquarters, the old spaceport. My quarters were comfortable, but it was obvious that I was a prisoner which gave me time to consider what had just happened. The guns had fallen silent, but what price would I have to pay for such a peace? Would I be seen as a modern-day Benedict Arnold or would I be seen as my namesake ancestor during the Siege of Kars.

It wasn't long before I began having conversations with this man-yes, forget what I said earlier, I will refer to him as a man regardless of what race he may be. The race this man belonged to were called Turians and he would best be described as a commander-his name was Titus Hectarium. These conversations lasted for several weeks until something completely unexpected happened and the facility was liberated by Alliance Special Forces. At first the soldiers released me as they thought that I had been captured by 'the birds' as the men referred to them but their tune changed rather quickly when they learned that I had surrendered. Their looks gave it all away that they no longer viewed me with respect, not that I would blame them, given our roles were reversed. I was young once, and saw things the way they did for a time, but not anymore. In spite of this, I was still the ranking officer so was returned to my post where I did the best I could to ensure that our former captors were treated with the same respect as we were.

As it turns out, these decisions I had made turned out to be for the better and not for the worse as a few weeks later a massive fleet outnumbering the Alliance nearly ten to one had poured through the mass relay and shattered the Second Fleet, apparently they had been able to find out where we came from as they surged through the relays and shattered what was left of our fleets at Arcturus.

Before long the Turians were over Earth, having destroyed our orbital shipyards and the base on Luna before they wiped out our plant side military installations. While there were still some that wanted to continue the fight, most of our leadership realized that the war was lost and continuing it any further would have been considered a destructive and pointless endeavor. In the end, the Systems Alliance signed the Turian Protected Planets Treaty. In essence, it meant that we could administer our own governments on Earth and her current colonies so long as the system of government fell under Hierarchy guidelines. The same went for our military and civil service. Our people could still serve, and we had our own fleets, but these were strictly limited to auxiliary fleets of frigates for peacetime patrols or ships integrated into the Hierarchy fleets.

So that is the beginning, some would say it was our end. For the time being, we function and live by the good pleasure of the Turian Hierarchy and do as they say until such a time as they deem fit that we can govern ourselves. I would have liked to see an independent humanity, but I am an old man now, and in the winter of my life I only want to be with my family and spoil my granddaughters. I have made my choices, and I must now live with them, as we all must.

-Excerpt from the memoirs of General Luke Terrance Williams, The Rise and Fall of the Systems Alliance


End file.
